How you (natives) know if “you” is singular or plural when several persons are near?

Answer 1

"You is only ever singular" - that's not true at all. "You" is both the second person singular and second person plural pronoun. How do you know which is which? Well, body language (i.e. pointing to a specific person or making a gesture to include everyone). Context (the person has been talking to one specific person). Other than that, the only way to know for sure is to ask.

Answer 2

We don't always. For example a group of people are leaving together and someone in the room says "Where are you going?" In this case you could mean the whole group or one individual in that group. Generally one can tell from the context. For example if the group that is leaving is a group of workmates going for lunch then the "you" is probably going to be plural as the asker is probably intending to catch them up later and wants to know where to find them. One the other hand if the group leaving is a teenager and her friends and the question is asked by her father it will almost certainly be a singular "you" because the father doesn't care where her friends are going - only where his daughter is off to!

Often in colloquial speech we say things like "you guys" or "you two" to make it clear that we are using a plural you. Direct eye contact will generally mean that you are using a singular you directed at the recipient of your gaze.

Answer 3

The answer is: you can't know if you use "you" if you're speaking to one or to many . In the English language there is no plural for you. This is why Southerners for generations have valued the use of the word "y'all". By using this wonderful contraction, there's no mistaking that you are communicating to plural persons. Let me tell you how to correctly use this pronoun. If you are speaking to one person, you say "you". If you are speaking to a small group or to a small group within a larger group, you say "y'all". If then you turn your attention to the entire large group, you may then pull out the ever invaluable, "all y'all" or "y'all all". Now there is no confusion and y'all all will be the better for it. :)

Answer 4

By context or gesture. Sometimes we must ask, or the speaker will be specific: "you all" or "all of you." Yes, sometimes we get mixed up. It is a significant shortcoming of our language. English has one of the largest vocabularies of any language; you'd think we would have solved this by now.

We in the South sometimes use "y'all" as a plural form (this is different from "you all"), but that is viewed as provincial and slightly uneducated by many people, so it is confined to the South. We also use "you" for the plural.

In one of the northeastern states, they use "you-uns," but that, too, is confined to a small area and is not considered "proper."

Also, we have no neuter third person personal pronoun. We used to use "he," "his," etc., for both male and female until the feminists complained in the '70's. Now we are stuck with "he or she," etc. It is very awkward. ("It" doesn't work because it is impersonal."

Answer 5

I think that aiguy has put it best, it is purely for the listener to establish it by the context in which it is used.

For example "Would any of you like to come for a drink?" quite obviously is the plural sense, whereas I might say to my missus "You are ugly my dear" which is quite obviously singular, even if she was with a crowd

Answer 6

It's actually something that causes problems for those who don't use "y'all." One solution that's unconsciously recently developed is "you guys" as a generic substitute but occasionally women get offended. For the most part, people tend to avoid using the you plural whenever possible; instead they try to be more specific (i.e. naming individual people or using a particular identifier) or use a different pronoun like "everyone," or "all."

Answer 7

Context - if somebody is talking to you, then 'you' means you. Body language and gesture help, but you are right, it can cause confusion.
'You' does cause problems sometimes, when it is used in an impersonal sense. In these circumstance 'you' can sound very accusatory and could cause offence. You can use 'one' instead, but that comes across as really affected these days.
The French have tu, nous and il/elle which covers all possibilities, and I really think that it is a shame we don't use 'thee' anymore.

Answer 8

The meaning is derived subconsiously by the listener from the context of the statement. In some cases a statement could be ambiguous if the proper reference can not be discerned from the context.

Answer 9

Because most of the time, if it's meant for more than one, people say "both of you" or "all of you" etc. Eye contact also plays a big part in this.

Answer 10

Jane b is wrong..what about a coach telling his players.."You were useless today." This you is plural!

You just have to use common sense.The person talking would make it obvious to whom he/she is talking..maybe by saying their name.." Jim ..you in particular were cr*p."